Should I drill or use HOB overflow on established tank

[crappie]

So I have a 40b and I’m starting to run out of room for additional equipment and I plan on adding a Neptune apex soon. The corals growth is making any equipment cleaning tough. I’ve already broken several pieces while cleaning the skimmer because the corals are growing so high. I would also like to have the equipment in a sump to cut down on the hair algae growth on the equipment because that’s really what I fight with the most.

So I need to add a sump to house all the equipment and I can’t decide if I should lower the tank water and drill with a chance of breaking the tank or chance a failure from an HOB overflow. I really wish I would have just drilled from the beginning and plugged it until I needed it but I had no idea the coral would grow so fast.

If I wait until I get the apex I know I can add fail safes to turn off the return pump in the event of a HOB syphon fail so I’m leaning towards the HOB but I would really like the safety of drilling if the chance of breaking the tank with everything in it is at 0.

It’s in my workout room and the stand was built for a 75 so I’ve thought about buying a 75 and making 75 gallons of water in a brute container in the event it did break I could quickly swap the tanks but that isn’t what I want because I’m sure I would lose something and that’s just a huge headache.

I’m looking for any opinions of what I should do (drill or HOB) and if anyone has experience in drilling the cheap 40b tanks from aqueon, (Petco).

Thanks in advance.

 

[19Mateo83]

Buy another tank, drill it and swap everything over once you have it plumbed. I would not risk drilling a tank with corals in it. There’s no real way of telling if the Petco 40 has tempered glass.

 

[crappie]

You can see that when I remove the return for the skimmer I have to be really careful for the monti!

 

[crappie]

Buy another tank, drill it and swap everything over once you have it plumbed. I would not risk drilling a tank with corals in it. There’s no real way of telling if the Petco 40 has tempered glass.

Well if I did buy a 75 to upgrade I could use the 40 as a sump!

 

[19Mateo83]

Well if I did buy a 75 to upgrade I could use the 40 as a sump!

There you go, get your new system built out . You will love having a sump!

 

[PharmrJohn]

Well if I did buy a 75 to upgrade I could use the 40 as a sump!

......And there it is! An upgrade!!! However, I've had a 75. I upgraded to a 90. And it was a much better tank (to me anyway!).

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

+1 on the 90g or 75g

 

[crappie]

I got lucky on a 75 gallon! Petco is having a sale on them! Tax included I only paid $79.24!

 

[kvansloo]

If you are going to drill a tank there are videos on you-tube of how to see if its tempered.

 

[Zelly]

Buy another tank, drill it and swap everything over once you have it plumbed. I would not risk drilling a tank with corals in it. There’s no real way of telling if the Petco 40 has tempered glass.

Some of them do some of them don't. There is a real way to tell which is by using the polarized sunglasses trick.

 

[MR2MAS]

I got lucky on a 75 gallon! Petco is having a sale on them! Tax included I only paid $79.24!

Did you end up drilling your 75? I’m thinking about upgrading to this tank.

 

[crappie]

Did you end up drilling your 75? I’m thinking about upgrading to this tank.

Yes I drilled it! I bought a marineland 75 from the local pet shop and emailed marineland to make sure it wasn’t tempered. They said the only part that’s tempered on the 75 is the bottom. This is my first internal overflow and it is awesome! So much room and super quiet! Definitely worth it!
I’m going to photo bomb the post with the upgrade. I just wish I would have taken photos of the stand build. I love the side cabinets and I also built a 8 inch piece of scrap wood in the middle on the top. I mounted it on the bottom of the top 2x4’s and it serves as a cable management for routing the cables and I just put a big zip tie to keep them above and out of site

Also I forgot to mention the Aqueon I first bought was tempered. I did the tests and I guess I didn’t do it well enough and when drilling I was almost through it and BAM!!! It exploded! So I’d buy a Marineland and not a Aqueon just to be sure it’s not tempered!

 

[ta88brian]

Buy another tank, drill it and swap everything over once you have it plumbed. I would not risk drilling a tank with corals in it. There’s no real way of telling if the Petco 40 has tempered glass.

Drilled several aqueon 40 breeders. Not tempered!

 

[crappie]

Drilled several aqueon 40 breeders. Not tempered!

Never tried a 40, I was too afraid and I decided to upgrade and was drilling a 75 and the Aqueon 75 was tempered

 

[ta88brian]

Never tried a 40, I was too afraid and I decided to upgrade and was drilling a 75 and the Aqueon 75 was tempered

Yeah I saw my mistake too late.vsorry mon

 

[Wild1]

......And there it is! An upgrade!!! However, I've had a 75. I upgraded to a 90. And it was a much better tank (to me anyway!).

I did the same thing, never regretted it

 

[crappie]

Update on my 40-75 upgrade…
Seven month i the upgrade and everything seems to be growing faster after the move. I’ve added 2 small frags that seem to be doing fine but all the old corals have grown like weeds. I moved the frag rack to the back and it has managed to grow into a big coral. I’ve also stopped picking up the pieces that break because it’s too much work to grab and place without breaking something else.

As a learning lesson to my future self and anyone considering an upgrade due to coral growth….Go big on the tank! and stay away from GSP!!!

If anyone wants any GSP OR Montipora frags and live around Topeka Ks, message me!!!

 

[ta88brian]

So I have a 40b and I’m starting to run out of room for additional equipment and I plan on adding a Neptune apex soon. The corals growth is making any equipment cleaning tough. I’ve already broken several pieces while cleaning the skimmer because the corals are growing so high. I would also like to have the equipment in a sump to cut down on the hair algae growth on the equipment because that’s really what I fight with the most.

So I need to add a sump to house all the equipment and I can’t decide if I should lower the tank water and drill with a chance of breaking the tank or chance a failure from an HOB overflow. I really wish I would have just drilled from the beginning and plugged it until I needed it but I had no idea the coral would grow so fast.

If I wait until I get the apex I know I can add fail safes to turn off the return pump in the event of a HOB syphon fail so I’m leaning towards the HOB but I would really like the safety of drilling if the chance of breaking the tank with everything in it is at 0.

It’s in my workout room and the stand was built for a 75 so I’ve thought about buying a 75 and making 75 gallons of water in a brute container in the event it did break I could quickly swap the tanks but that isn’t what I want because I’m sure I would lose something and that’s just a huge headache.

I’m looking for any opinions of what I should do (drill or HOB) and if anyone has experience in drilling the cheap 40b tanks from aqueon, (Petco).

Thanks in advance.

Aqueon 40b not tempered.drilled 1 myself about a year ago.